"Tao, where WERE you?" Xiumin nearly yelled as Tao walked into class just before the bell rang. "You didn't meet up with us! We were worried sick!"

"What happened?" Chen asked quietly, looking concerned.

"N-nothing guys, sorry to worry you," Tao laughed a little bit, trying to get rid of his awkwardness. "J-just, I was helping a new student around, so ..."

"A new student? There's a new student?" Xiumin grinned. "Is it a guy? Can he do martial arts? I wanna fight him!"

"No! He's not a -- I mean, it's not a boy!" Tao stammered as he took his usual seat in the empty table in front of them. "It's a girl. Her name is Ming. Uh, she's transferred here today, and uh ..."

"A girl?" Xiumin interrupted, grinning even wider. "Is she cute?"

Tao hesitated to think about it? Besides the fact she is crazy and scares the hell out of him and pointed a gun at his face? "Yeah, she's pretty cute --"

Tao stopped and stared. His best friend was currently choking. "A-are you alright?"

"Chen! Did you hear that? DID YOU HEAR THAT??!!" Xiumin grabbed Chen and started to shake the poor, frail boy by the shoulders. 

"H-h-hear w-w-what?" Chen managed to stammer out. He felt like his head was going to fall off.

"What's wrong?" Tao frowned curiously.

"Tao! You just said she was CUTE!" Xiumin looked absolutely delighted. "You NEVER said a girl was cute before! EVER!"

Tao blushed. The way Xiumin was saying it made it sound like he was gay or something. "I do so!"

"No you don't! Whenever I ask for your opinion, you just shrug and say something like 'She's alright, I guess'. You've NEVER SAID A GIRL WAS CUTE BEFORE!!! HALLELUJAH AND PEANUT BUTTER!!!"

"Xiumin, please, shut up!" Tao whimpered. People's heads were starting to turn because of his overly-loud friend.

"BUT YOU THOUGHT A GIRL WAS -- MMMMPH!!!" Chen had slapped a hand over Xiumin's mouth, effectively cutting him off. "Let's all calm down, okay?" He said with a calm smile. "Save it for the basketball court at lunch."

Tao just smiled at his two close friends. He really was certain he would die of loneliness if it wasn't for Xiumin, Chen, and Luhan, who seemed to be the only people in all of SM High who could look past his scary exterior and see the true him.

The teacher rapped a ruler on the desk to get everyone's attention. "Class, I'd like to introduce you to a new student. She's just transferred here from France, isn't that EXCITING?" She smiled at them all, as though it was a joyful occassion.

People mumbled a weak response, but Wang Laoshi wasn't paying attention anymore.

"Class, meet Wu Ming Xia!"

Tao's jaw dropped as a very familiar girl walked in with the school uniform. "Oh, god, no ..."

Ming stared at everybody, not quite liking the way they were all sizing her up, seeing if she was worth talking to. It reminded her of the way some agents in Triple-Zero looked at her when she first arrived, judging her to see if she was going to survive long enough to be acquainted with.

She hated having to be reminded of those stares again.

Just before she was going to do something stupid -- like telling them all to bugger off for example -- she met eyes with one familiar face in the crowd. Huang Zhi Tao, who looked positively panicked.

"Would you like to introduce yourself, Wu tongxue?" Wang Laoshi smiled encouragingly at her.

Ming cleared , feeling a strange emotion that was making her stomach twist almost painfully and her hands sweaty.

Nervousness. She was nervous.

She looked up, desperately trying to think of something to say, and met eyes with Tao again. Seeing someone she knew made her relax a bit.

Just think of him, she told herself. Just pretend you're only talking to him.

"My name is Wu Ming Xia," she began to speak in even, clear words. "I've lived in many places all my life, but I used to live in France before moving here. I enjoy martial arts and, uh, action movies. Um ... I hope I can get along with you all."

She remembered to bow as everyone clapped politely. 

"You can take a seat now, Wu tongxue," Wang Laoshi said. "There's an empty one next to ... Huang tongxue. You can take a seat there."

Ming nodded and made her way to the empty seat next to Tao.

"Why are you in my class?" He hissed, his eyes wide with apprehension and fright, the second she sat down.

"You think I'm going to go to just any old classroom," she whispered back. "No way. We're in this mission together, I have to keep an eye on you at all times."

Tao pouted and looked away with a huff. Ming rolled her eyes. "Childish."

Tao pouted even more. 

Something sharp began to jab at his back -- Xiumin was poking him with a pencil. "Hey, aren't you going to introduce us to her? After all, she IS the only girl you've ever thought cu --"

"SSSSSH!!!" Tao hissed, his cheeks turning red. "That was a mistake, okay? I regret ever saying anything to you."

Ming turned around, an expression of confusion on her face. "Is it my error, or are we supposed to be listening to what the teacher has to say?"

Xiumin and Chen chuckled, and even Tao grinned. Ming frowned even more, completely mystified.

"You're a funny one." Xiumin held out his hand. "I'm Jin Min Shuo, but you can call me Xiumin." He smiled cutely and winked. "Nice to meet you."

Ming shook his hand warily, nodding. She wasn't quite sure how to interact with such a cheerful creature. "Um, hi ..."

She turned to Chen.

"I'm Jin Zhong Da, but they like to call me Chen," he said with a soft smile. "Nice to meet you, Ming Xia tongxue." He shook her hand too.

"Oh, you can just call me Ming," she said, feeling her cheeks heat up slightly. "I, uh, don't care for formalities. Are you both friends of Tao?"

Xiumin suddenly turned to Tao, his eyes sparkling. "You're even on nickname basis!!! Tao, is there something you'd like to tell us?"

Ming watched with bemusement as Tao's cheeks turned the colour of cherries. "Xiumin, for the love of god, please shut up."

"Because I'm gonna be pissed if you tried to hide it from your besties --"

"Xiumin, I swear, I WILL use that Nan Quan Wushu style form I just learnt on you if you don't shut up --"

"Does Luhan gege know about this? Does he approve?"

"Xiumin --" Tao's eyes were dangerously close to tearing up, as usual, since he was undergoing stress.

"Guys!" Chen finally butted in. "Wang Laoshi is glaring at you guys."

Unfortunately, he warned them a bit too late. "Boys, I would appreciate if you'd stop distracting the new student and pay attention to my lesson! Now open those math textbooks!"

Ming turned back to the front, feeling a strange, unfamiliar urge to laugh at their antics. She didn't really understand what Xiumin and Tao were arguing about, but it was funny to watch nonetheless.

Which was strange. She's NEVER felt like laughing unless she's with Kris and Lay, and even then, only when she was in a good mood. How weird.

And why did Wang Laoshi put all the blame on them?

"She always favours the girls," Xiumin muttered resentfully behind her.

Ming had to bite her tongue to hold back a laugh.

*♦*

"Hey, your name is Wu Ming Xia, right?"

"What was France like?"

"Where have you lived before?"

"Can you speak French?"

"What kind of martial arts do you do?"

Ming struggled to find answers. The second Wang Laoshi announced it was break time, students had instantly flocked to her desk and began to bombard her with questions. To be honest, she was completely overwhelmed. It took all her strength not to fling the nearest person she saw onto their back and then jump out the window.

"I feel bad for you, Wu tongxue," one girl whispered. "You have to sit next to Huang Zhi Tao."

"Huh?" Ming turned to look at the empty seat next to her -- Tao had disappeared with those two funny friends of his to find that handsome school president during the break. "What do you mean?"

The students all eyed each other nervously. "We don't want to scare you ..." one boy started to say.

"I can assure you, I have seen worst," Ming said in a tone so firm they stared at her, wondering what she has seen.

"W-well, there are plenty of rumours about him," they began to whisper fearfully to her. 

"I heard he goes around picking fights with all the bullies and gangsters."

"I heard he's a gangster HIMSELF. Deals with drugs and the like."

"Yeah? Well, I heard he goes around in the dead of night finding stray women and them."

"He glares at anyone who comes too close to him."

"He's a Wushu master, and rumour has it anyone who tries to stand up to him will get sent to the hospital."

Ming heard all of this and couldn't stop the bubble of laughter that escaped from .

They all stared at her. "You think it's FUNNY?" One exclaimed, appalled.

Ming tried to stop the giggles. "S-s-sorry, but ... I mean ... are you seriously talking about Huang Zhi Tao? The guy who sits next to me?" She tried to imagine the timid crybaby she knew and almost burst into another bout of hysterical laughter again.

"Yes, of course we're talking about him!" A girl said impatiently. "Don't you see it too, Wu tongxue? He's just so tall and terrifying. He scares me so much!"

"Me too! I'd freak out if he spoke to me!"

"I hope I NEVER have to do any projects with him. He'd probably bully me into doing all the work."

The bell rang, signalling the end of break, and the students returned to their seats, still discussing their fears about Tao.

Ming watched them leave, feeling horrified and rather pissed off.

They didn't even KNOW him. They've never spoken a word to him before. How could they just assume all those things about him and make up all those rumours? She knew they were all untrue, too. If Tao DID do any of those things, she'd eat her motorcycle.

Ming just couldn't understand. What was the point in making up all these scary stories about Tao and fearing him when he never did anything wrong? If they TRIED talking to him, Ming knew they would quickly realize he was the biggest wimp she's ever seen.

Why did these teenagers judge him based on his appearance alone?

Tao, Xiumin, and Chen appeared. Ming noticed people shrinking away from them as they walked down the rows. She also noticed they were too busy cowering and whispering fearfully to their neighbours to notice the cute way Tao's eyes lit up when he smiled, and the innocent look on his face when he was with his friends.

They took their seats, and Tao turned to see Ming staring hard at him.

"Anything wrong, Ming xiaojie?" He asked curiously.

"No. Nothing," she muttered, turning away.

*♦*

Hey guys, it's PrincessBubbleTea again!

Anyway, I have a story idea being planned out, and I think it might star Infinite. Thing is, I'm not very familiar with the way Infinite is portrayed in AFF, so I need some help.

Do you guys know which one in Infinite is most suited to be the "Bad Boy" type in fanfictions? At first I thought it was L, but he seems more like a "Player" type to me....then again, I don't know. 

Help me out here, guys!